Sunday, December 30, 2012

Under the Sea Decorations for VBS

I LOVE Vacation Bible School. I was saved at VBS when I was 11-years-old. It is very special to my heart. I love sharing God's love with the kids. We wanted to decorate our room like the Great Barrier Reef and have an underwater feel inside it. The welcome sign below along with the coral inside the room were created using foam insulation board from the local hardware store. I used a hot knife found here that I bought at Harbor Freight using a coupon making it $20. Last year we used a wire hot knife that I burnt out quickly making the NY Skyline out of the same foam board.

These palm trees were made using pool noodles, paper bags, tape, spray paint, wire hangers, and poster board. I will post a tutorial soon on how to make them. We made the surf board from the left over insulation board.

The purple coral has canned foam insulation sprayed onto it and painted over once dried. The fish are made from different sizes of coke bottles, 2 liters and 20 oz. The clam below is from the bottoms of the Coke bottles hot glued together. You can find a lot of information and ideas on my Pinterest board here.

We hung streamers from the ceiling to be the waves and clear ornaments for the bubbles. We bought inexpensive table clothes at the Dollar Tree and hung on the wall (much easier than bulletin board paper like we used for the night sky in our cityscape last year, although next time we will make sure nothing is left on the wall before we hang it up). We also used tan sheets on the floor for the sandy ocean floor. Then we finished it off with some squishy urchin looking balls from the toy section of the Dollar Tree, treasure necklaces and coins on the floor and some fishing nets hanging on the coral.

8 comments:

Thank you for sharing your great ideas...I was wondering if you could give me some guidance. What technique did you use to spray the the the canned foam insulation on the coral? Also, how did you get it to stay upright?

Hi Leslue!I just sprayed the insulation on in a pattern that I thought would resemble coral. Once the board was completely covered and dried I painted the whole thing with a brush and acrylic paint from Hobby Lobby. We leaned the pieces against the wall to make them stand up. ;-) I hope this helps you! I would love to see yours if you make it!

Allan, we purchased the foam insulation board from Lowes and used something called a hot knife that we bought at Harbor Freight. http://www.harborfreight.com/130-watt-heavy-duty-hot-knife-60313.html It's stinky so you'll want to use it outside. The one we have has lasted us several uses. We only use it when making decorations for VBS. Hope this helps you. I'd love to see your pictures when your finished! ;-)

About Me

I am a stay-at-home mom to a beautiful 9-year-old girl. I love crafts and share my love of them w/ her! I LOVE watching her mind grow and the eagerness and curiousity she has to learn more. Each day is a brand new adventure for both of us and I wouldn't miss a second of it! ;-) I am VERY much in love with my sweet husband. He happens to be very patient with my crafting mess and my disorganization. I LOVE Jesus who is my savior and enjoy teaching Meara about Him and his love for us!